[Aztlan] WHITE STONE LLAMA PATTERNS FOUND AT CHOQUEQUIRAO, PERU

[michael ruggeri]

FROM THE TENERIFE NEWS

Canary expedition in search of the white stone llamas

A team of Canary investigators is currently in remotest Peru to study  
a startling new archaeological discovery which came to light recently  
in Choquequirao, an ancient Inca site which is being described in  
glowing terms as Machu Picchu’s “twin town”.

The find consists of a line of white stone llamas embedded in massive  
terraced stone walls and which, it is thought, could well form part  
of the entrance to the sacred valley of the Incas.
And make no mistake - the expedition to Choquequirao is no jolly. The  
three men and two women face a gruelling five days on foot and mule  
along badly eroded and slippery tracks, in 100% humidity and in full  
rainy season. But it’s one they have already done just three months  
ago and now they are hoping to find more of the mysterious llamas.
“After the hardships, mosquitoes and slips along the way what we  
found was truly worth all the trouble,” said team member Rubén  
Naveros of La Laguna’s Museum of Science and the Cosmos.
So far 33 of the elegant, minimalist llamas have been uncovered,  
hidden behind and beneath thick vegetation, but the team thinks there  
could be as many as a hundred, maybe more. The frieze is unique and  
has caused a considerable ripple of excitement in the archaeological  
world because nothing remotely like it has been found in Inca  
architecture before.
Another member of the team explained how, on that first visit they  
had been puzzled by the fact that the mysterious stone complex  
appeared not to conform to the usual Inca pattern of being  
constructed in line with the sun. But they had eventually unearthed  
evidence of aligned white stones set in black earth and buried  
underneath centuries of dust and undergrowth. It seems this was the  
place where the Incas ritually sacrificed selected llamas.
The far-flung nature of the site can be judged by Gotzon Cañadas’s  
account of spending 22 hours on a bus from Lima to Cuzco, followed by  
a 4 hour switchback mountain journey in a cramped minibus to the tiny  
town of Cachora. “It was like world’s end,” he said. Then came the  
five day mule ride up the Vilcabamba mountains to Choquequirao,  
perched at an altitude of 3,300 metres above sea level.
At first glance Cachora might well have been far from the madding  
crowd, but on the return journey and after 65 kilometres in the wilds  
on the back of a mule it was civilization itself.
“As far as we were concerned it was Manhattan,” smiled Cañadas as he  
prepared to pack his bags and fly off to Peru with the rest of the  
team, on a quest to bring the white llamas back to life.




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